Max Blumenthal caught a very interesting exchange yesterday on James Dobson’s nationally syndicated radio show. Apparently, Dobson and Focus on the Family President Jim Daly had the privilege of a private audience with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. They all got along swimmingly. From the radio show:
Daly: He’s [Bolton’s] a good man. I mean, everything we saw of him in that almost hour we met with him…he’s just a solid pro-life gentleman and uh, certainly more meek than what the Democrats portrayed. He’s a nice guy. […]
Dobson: But we had an opportunity to talk to him about the possibility of Focus on the Family working with the United Nations. That really did excite me. (emphasis added)
Daly: Absolutely. I think what came across in the meeting is that he [Bolton] is pro-life and pro-family and he gave us an invitation to work with him in setting some policy there at the UN that would support the values we believe in.
Dobson: Now we’re finding out why the Democrats didn’t want him…
Daly: It had nothing to do…
Dobson: He’s [Bolton’s] pro-life, pro-family, pro-morality and sees things the way we do regarding condom distribution and abstinence and other things.
Dobson’s comments, however, only tell half the story. Many saw Blumenthal’s item and began worrying that the religious right may start dictating U.S. policy at the U.N. It’s too late — the right has already been doing this for nearly five years.
In May 2002, for example, the Bush administration sent a delegation to a United Nations meeting on the rights of children, in which member nations gathered to expand on earlier work and create a new document, titled “A World Fit For Children.” The U.S. delegation was led by Tommy Thompson, then-secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, but he brought quite a crew with him.
He was joined by a five-member group of “special private sector advisers” four of whom are committed Religious Right activists creating what some have called the most conservative delegation the United States has ever sent to the United Nations.
While America’s traditional allies in Europe were advocating greater health and educational benefits and increased safety for children, the U.S. delegation instigated a polarizing debate over sex education and reproductive rights.
In a private meeting, delegations from European allies such as Sweden and Norway spoke with Thompson and complained about America being unnecessarily “intransigent” on social issues, according to a report in the conservative Washington Times. Thompson reportedly replied that the U.S. delegation was acting on the wishes of Bush and that there would be no compromise.
Among those “helping” Secretary Thompson at the U.N. were employees of several religious right powerhouses. The Family Research Council’s William Saunders and Concerned Women for America’s Janice Crouse were on hand, as was Paul Bonicelli, a dean at Patrick Henry College, a Christian private school in Virginia created by religious right activist Michael Farris to cater to students from fundamentalist Christian home schools.
Indeed, many people aren’t aware of this, but Dobson’s Focus on the Family is already an accredited non-governmental organization to the United Nations with a full-time representative (Thomas Jacobson).
Worried about far-right religious activists having too much influence over U.S. policy at the United Nations? From the moment Bush became president, American delegations and religious right activists have been one in the same.